Playtime

Geocaching to me is recess, and I got to go outside and play a couple of times this week.

I headed for Simi Valley with the Ventura Kids for almost 40 caches in four hours. The weather was ideal.

Here are the caching pros discovering what “Clow” means:

CLOW

There are no less than three caches VISIBLE in this photo. See if you can tell where they are:

Not hot and no juice

The next day I spent a few hours in Burbank with Bwidger, Spoondoggie, and OLdweeb. We cleaned up a couple dozen newer ones, most of which were stashed in an alleyway that was quiet and muggle free:
Guarding the Alley

We did see some unusual vehicles, like this taxi:

and this “cool” camper:

Scott showed us how to really have play time!

…. and we had lunch at Shakey’s, where we had smores pizza.

Yes, that’s marshmallows. chocolate and graham cracker crumbs on pizza crust. It’s actually pretty tasty! Evil, but tasty….

(NO, I did not use the hot sauce!)

To Find or NOT to Find

Last week, I found cache #23,000. I think I have an average DNF rate of at least 10%, so this means I’ve NOT found over 2,300 caches. Some days are really worse than others, too. I took a road trip the other day, and DNFd three before finding one. Ouch. I even DNFd two while trying to find #23,000!

DNF 1

Fruit of the Spirit: Self-Control

DNF2

Where the Sidewalk Ends…

Find #23,000, at last!

Gateway to Beaumont

To make up for it, though, are the easy breezy days of 100+ finds! I had a lovely day of 116 finds and NO DNFs on a run from Moreno Valley to Lake Hemet with OLdweeb and Albackore.

Breakfast of Champions

Find #1
2000 – Geocaching was Born

1916 – E=MC2

Up in to mountain scenery:

Find #116
1918 – Does Anybody Really Know What Time it is?

Where’s the next cache clump? Let’s go!

An Eventful Week

As I like to say, the best things I’ve found in caches are new friends, and the best places to find them are at events. Like most things in life, events come in clumps, and this week was full of them!

I attended five this week. Two were more or less standard events in the Redlands area, and are repeating. The cachers out there meet every other week for breakfast and every month for dinner. This makes for nice, consistent fellowship and continuing inspiration to go caching and hiking out in that area.

Breakfast Club #9, Mamaloo’s event

After Work/End of Day #10, Biatchn’s event

There were a large number of events all over the world on October 10th, all about the 10s. I atTENded the closest one to me on 10/10/10 at 10:10:10am out in a park in Chatsworth. Most of the locals showed up, including some I hadn’t seen in a while.

(sorry about the shaky videography with the iPhone…. I’ll get better at it!)
10.10.10 at 10:10:10 for 10 in10, hosted by Gummyfrog

The piéce de resistance was a rally event the day before that had about 20 teams of cachers scattered all over Hollywood solving puzzles to find caches that had clues to solving a murder mystery.
Trouble in Tinseltown – A Puzzle Rally Event
Trouble in Tinseltown – Epilogue

The mastermind, Molly Shock, out did herself with the planning. Every aspect, from the settings to the materials to the prizes was crafted with the theme and story in mind. We started at ended at Hollywood and Vine, and the first three puzzles involved the architecture of the mall, Kodak Theatre, and Grauman’s Chinese. The route took us to over a dozen significant Hollywood landmarks, and each stop included a brief history with photos of how it looked there in yesteryear.

Kudos and thanks to all of the organizers for getting us all together!

Spinal Tap

I joined a horde of hardcore hikers this week as they wrapped up an epic challenge cache to find all of the caches along the Backbone Trail. Over 60 miles of trail and 135 caches along it make this a long-term project. I’ve found less than half of them, but I’m tempted to see if I can accomplish it. The hardest sections are to the west, where it is difficult to segment the hike into less than 13 mile treks.

Spinal Tap by The Lazy Loppers (GC1C4Y4)

Pianofab took several lovely photos of the day:
See them here!

I’ve got another iMovie for you with some shots of the scenery and views.

DO look back!
Dante’s Inferno: Level 2
SWIFTS’ ROOST RETURNS
Dirty Harry’s Manzanita
Backbone Lunch Rock – East